2009.01.17 & 18 MTB
January 19th, 2009
2009.01.17 So I braved riding my bicycle again, but this time it was actually cold. This is a mixed blessing. If it’s cold enough, the trails will be frozen. Of course if it’s that cold, parts of my body will be frozen too. For that reason, fortunately it wasn’t that cold. But unfortunately, the trails weren’t frozen, and there were some slippery muddy parts here and there, even though the trails were generally dry.
At any rate, the cold day was set aside for riding the new trails at Whirlpool. I’d ridden part of the new one, but it had since been finished. The first half is pretty twisty and … not “technical” but not just terribly fast. So maybe the best way to describe it is “slow.” Fun, but slow.
Then there’s a clear change, about 1/2 to 2/3 of the way in. It become fast. Flowy, swoopy, and very fun. There are some technical features, but most of the trail is open, and begging for speed. To be fair, it’s a different kind of forest, too. The slow part is a lot of pines, and a bunch of smaller trees. I say smaller to indicate there’s still a lot of competition among them, and they cover the area. It’s what I’d call secondary-growth forest, although that could be wrong. The fast trail is in old growth forest. There are a lot of big trees, so the cover is higher, and so less ground level competition. Which means a more open forest. Which means a more open trail. Which means speed. 
The first picture below is actually where the change is made.
Cross this (usually dry) ditch, then everything just sort of opens up.
This even follows in a low area, so it’s pretty flat to boot. There are hills, in fact a little ridge similar to what’s in “The Junkyard”, this is just the next ridge to the West. This trail goes up and comes down that ridge, to much enjoyment.
The most “wait, what was that now?” section is this tree pair, on a sharp steep uphill section. You have to hit this with speed, but too much and you’ll probably eat it. Too little and you won’t roll up the hill. And you’ll amost surely have to roll, because these trees are close enough that they’ll either be happy to catch a pedal on your downstroke.
Then we actually go get on The Junkyard and ride out. It’s reverse from the normal direction, but it adds miles (maybe 2) of singletrack compared to fire roads.
11.75 miles, 4.9 (!!!) mph (like I said, 1/2 of the new trail is slow.
2009.01.18 Temperatures were excellent today. Called for shorts and a windproof jacket. Pictures only:
12.19 miles, 6.3 mph.
Note that I’ve nearly figured out how to do what I want to do with the pictures. If (what amounts to) the nested images pass muster with everyone, I’ll stick with that format. It’s not too difficult to set them up that way.
Filed under: Canon SD870, gadgets, mountain biking
January 19th, 2009 at 5:09 pm
I like your pictures!! Esp the stair stepping ones.